Q: I need to plant something behind my pool to hide an industrial fence that acts as our rear fence.
Obviously we need plants that will not drop leaves and other refuse into the pool nor provide an extensive root system that could become a problem.
Ideally I am trying to create a Balinese inspired theme in the yard though the garden is only 18 months old. The space is at the north end of the garden and is in full sun most of the day. In summer the heat in that section is quite intense for several hours.
Please help me! Helen & Kelly - Woolloongabba
A: I will answer this in point form.
- How much space do you have between the pool and the industrial fence? This will decide how many ‘rows’ of plants or the depth of planting you could have. Maybe the space is so narrow that it is possible just to plant one row of plants/trees only? Even with one row of trees, you can still plant some lower growing plants beneath them.
- A Balinese inspired theme immediately brings to mind tropical foliage, colour, leafy plants, and ‘exotic’ plants. Many of these require shade, or at least ‘part shade’. BUT … from what you say, this is a NEW garden and the site is prone to ‘intense sun’.
- The list of some suitable plants that I give you below, which would suit an initial planting, is therefore confined to those that like sunny conditions. They are still ‘Balinese type’.
- Until you establish a canopy of foliage, I would advise that you DO NOT plant the shade loving species of plants. Once a canopy has been formed, however (a few years down the track, depending on the size of plant you start off with), you could THEN introduce the exotic tropical shade-loving plants. Being at the north end of the garden the fence itself and the canopy of your tall plants will provide the required shade.
- A very typical Balinese plant is the Frangipani (Plumeria sp.), BUT … in late autumn/early winter it drops ALL its leaves, and will create one ‘helluva’ mess in your pool. During the long flowering season it constantly drops flowers – which actually look quite pleasant under the tree. If it is a Balinese garden that you are creating, you HAVE TO have this low growing tree in your garden somewhere. Maybe you could plant it in your front yard! There is a very large range of flower colours BUT … you will still need to rake up those flowers and leaves.
- The plants I suggest below do not cause excessive leaf drop, nor do they have invasive root systems.
- Depending on the space you have, maybe you could intersperse some rocks, vases, lanterns, slate stones, hand-carved statues, oriental sculptures, bowls of water lilies or lotus, etc. scattered about within the planting.
- INDUSTRIAL FENCE SCREENING PLANTS …various species of lillipillies, low growing palms, low growing bamboo (clumping type ONLY), sun loving tall heliconias.
- MEDIUM HEIGHT PLANTS, for planting under the higher canopy of the above. Acalypha, Bird of Paradise, lower growing heliconias, hibiscus, dracaena, furcraea, cycads, cordylines, megaskepasma, mussaenda, ixora, allamanda, bougainvillea, Nandina domestica, Philodendron xanadu, doryanthes.
- LOWER GROWING PLANTS, for planting under the ‘medium height’ plants. Mondo grass, liriope, other ornamental grasses, coleus, rhoeo, some orchids, cannas, sun loving bromeliads, alocasias, Arum Lily, flax, Spider lilies, Day Lilies.
- The above are just a few of the many plants that you can choose for the initial sun position planting. Most of them have very many different cultivars, foliage and flower colours, characteristics and so on. Obviously you cannot plant ALL of them, but they will give you some ideas.
You now need to do some research of your own, and mix and match.
With the above list of plants you could possibly visit some nurseries and see for yourself what these plants look like. Your planting ‘design’ will still depend on the space available.
Please keep in mind that if you choose small plants in 140mm pots to start off with they will all be about the same size at this early stage. The quickest way to create a screen is to start off with large plants, but of course it becomes much more expensive that way.
In establishing your garden … please don’t forget, nor stint on, the basic component for success … a GOOD, DEEP soil!
